Fear my power

Words Written: ~1700 words notes on a new novel (ack!)
Writing Stats: Prepped and/or mailed a total of 12 stories.
Exercise: up and down the stairs I go…

Woke up about 8 a.m. today, decided that was way too early, and went back to sleep for a couple more hours. Had weird dreams and woke up with a crick in my neck. It’s all a trade-off.

But boy howdy, have I had energy today! I worked. I made a loose menu plan for the week, made a list, and did a big grocery shopping. I did two loads of laundry (still have to put ‘em away, though). I finished prepping and/or mailing a total of 12 stories. My e-mail in box is mostly down to reminder e-mails (as opposed to things I have to answer—I have only one of them left to go).

Dangnabbit! And only a few hours later, a story gets rejected. Muttergrumble. Back to the drawing board. (Update a few hours later: back in the mail. Fear my story submission power!)

Aaaand, that novel that was bugging me the other day? Crap. I may have to write it sooner than I thought… No idea where I’m going to fit it into the schedule, but hey, that’s why I said this year was all about flexibility, right?

Right?

Meep.

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Currently Reading: Ysabel, Guy Gavriel Kay
Lately Listened To: Mirror Mirror, Lorraine a’Malena; The Open Door, Evanescence
Recently Watched: Nora Robert’s Montana Sky, Monarch of the Glen

The week that was

Words Written: OOTFP, ~500
Writing Stats: Received rejection from Æon for “Matchmaker”: “It was a hoot, but it didn’t quite his the mark for us…” It’s one of those stories that gets close, but never quite hits the mark. Someday it’ll find a home…! Updated anthology list. Mailed “Always a Bridesmaid” to Purple Panties. Prepped 9 more stories to mail. Made notes on a new novel.
Exercise: taking it easy because my hip’s been hurting

Busy week! Ken left Monday, but came back because of bike issues. He swapped out the broken center stand for a new one, bought a new tire on Tuesday morning, and then he was really on his way. (Pout, sigh.) Tuesday evening I trotted off to Morgana’s for sewing. Albra needed help with some costuming for Estrella, so I did handwork on a Turkish coat for Her Majesty, then worked on a kumihimo cord after that.

Wednesday I spent writing and working, although I had another lovely massage…

On Thursday, I helped Morgana finally finish painting her meditation room, a project that’s dragged on far, far too long. Our friend Pat did an amazing mural on all four walls of the room, but we had to touch up some trim and whatnot. In total, it didn’t take very long, but now it’s done! We tidied up in there and toasted our success. That evening, I had dinner with Morgana, Brian, and Jeff at The Urban Café (I had a grilled chicken and cilantro sandwich that was quite amazing), and then we met up with Eric at the theatre and saw Monty Python and the Holy Grail on the big screen. (I’ve never seen it in the theatre, so it was a great experience!) Unfortunately, I’d been fighting off a headache all day, and by the end of the movie I was feeling rotten. I got home, talked to Ken, and went to bed with lots of drugs and a heating pad.

The headache, nasty as it was, was pretty much gone by the time I crawled out of bed yesterday, which was a very good thing. I got a bunch of work done, tweaked a story for an anthology, that sort of thing. Then I caught a ride up to Ojai, where some of our local SCA group members were making and serving dinner for the homeless. (We used the hall for our Shire Twelfth Night feast in December, and were happy to “give back” and do something for the hall and the community.) On the way home I picked Elyramere’s brain about gardening things, and I think I’ve decided to put a hedge of cape honeysuckle along the wall where the eucalyptus trees used to be. Easy to care for, happy in our horrible soil and lack of water and lots of sun, and as an added bonus, attracts hummingbirds. :-)

I then proceeded to prep nine stories to mail, although I still have to e-mail some and envelope others, etc. I’ll get that done this weekend.

Stupid headache came back today, or maybe it was a new one triggered by the champagne I drank last night. So I’ve been groggy and logy and unproductive for the most part.

I’d hoped to go see the tall ships that are in port right now, today, but Morgana’s sick. She suggested I call Tomi, but I decided my headache made me not want to go anywhere. As it was, I crawled back into bed this afternoon with the heating pad and drugs and Ysabel, and then dozed for a bit, thinking about a novel I want to write, probably this year. At some point (last night or this morning; it’s all a blur…) I also may have figured out the solution to a short story that’s been fighting me—which is good, because it’s due at the end of the month.

So I’ve spent a quiet day working and writing and watching TV, and now I’m off to curl up in bed with the heating pad (just ‘cause it feels good!) and Ysabel. Maybe I’ll come back out tomorrow, and maybe I won’t… [g]

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Currently Reading: Ysabel, Guy Gavriel Kay
Lately Listened To: One With Everything, Styx and the Contemporary Youth Orchestra
Recently Watched: Heroes, CSI, Monarch of the Glen, Monty Python and the Holy Grail

It's here!

The new Guy Gavriel Kay book is in my hot little hands. Dammit, I'm not going to get anything done this weekend…

Alphabetical extravaganza

Here's the book description for C is for Co-Eds, one book of a new anthology series I (as Andrea Dale) have stories in:

A Is For Amour, B Is For Bondage, C Is For Co-Eds and D Is For Dress-Up kick off a new series from Alison Tyler and Cleis Press. From Amour to Zippers, this alphabetical extravaganza of erotic delights features 26 hot volumes of explicit, playful stories.

Campus cuties suddenly away from home explore new sexual delights in this charming collection. With stories like “College Reunion” by Andrea Dale and “While She Was Dancing” by Thomas S. Roche, who’s got time to study?

Teresa has a story in one of this first set as well, and as Sophie we've sold a story to the forthcoming H is for Hardcore. They're publishing them in sets of four, so I don't have guidelines for all of them yet.

Fun series, really fun covers! Remember, Valentine's Day is coming—you and your sweetie could snuggle up with one of these lovely books...!

Corpse flower

Please, somebody in the UK, go and sniff this thing for me in my stead! I sooooo want to be there!

Warm Weather Prompts Corpse Flower to Boom Early

Imbolc energy

Words Written: “Burning Bright partial: 646; “Burning Bright” synopsis, words and edits
Writing Stats: Received rejection from PitchBlack, which is going out of business, for “The Queen’s Gardener.” Received payment for "College Reunion", to appear in C is for Coeds.
Exercise: walking with Morgana

Happy Imbolc, albeit a day late! And happy full moon! Wooh, that was some great energy yesterday! It seems to mostly be bleeding over into today, although being woken from a sound sleep by my mother calling this morning (8:30 a.m., half an hour before my alarm was due to go off—I tend to work late into the night) didn’t help. (My parents are fine. They just got to Myrtle Beach, where they winter, and my mother couldn’t get her dial-up to work. Sigh.)

Jury duty is over! What a relief. Don’t get me wrong—I’m very glad I had the opportunity to serve, and would do so again in a heartbeat. I’ve always believed in how crucial it is for our justice system, and this experience really hammered that home. I was so impressed to be debating in a jury room with 11 other intelligent, well-spoken, thoughtful, and reasonable people. Just because we didn’t agree (and I was outvoted on both counts) didn’t mean we weren’t polite and rational.

Still, the experience was stressful on many levels. Litigation is simply stressful. It’s a conflict, and while we’re dealing with it in a civilized way (a trial), it doesn’t mean that there isn’t high emotion. (This was a civil trial, BTW, in case I hadn’t mentioned before.) So there’s lots of negativity in the courtroom, and deliberations had a level of stress because we didn’t agree, and we also had a major time constraint. It turned out this was the second time they’d tried to have this trial—the last time, one of the parties fell ill enough to be hospitalized. We went through all three of our alternates, and then one of the jurors found out she had to fly back east on Wednesday for a funeral. Originally we’d been scheduled to be there Tue-Fri this week, and that was with a bit of extra padding. But then we had to regroup and do Mon-Tue. The lawyers even sped up to accommodate us, and we went to the jury room late Mon afternoon, and then had all day Tue. But we didn’t look as though we were going to come to a resolution by late Tue afternoon (in a civil trial, it has to be at least 9-3)… Thankfully, we did, and then I raced home to check on Grimoire, and then I was pretty much braindead and headachy for the rest of the evening.

Grimoire is doing fine, BTW, and thank you all for your well wishes. His problem has altered to the level of being the opposite problem, so on the advice of the vet I’m scaling back on the laxatives. The best news is, he’s lost weight! About six months ago, he topped the scales at 21.1 lbs. Saturday he was 19.7, and Wednesday, at his re-check, he was 19.3. According to his chart, he should be between 18 and 19 lbs, so that’s significant progress.

Speaking of significant progress, it’s been wonderful to get back into the flow of writing. Teresa and I had a hugely productive phone call yesterday; a novella proposal we’ve been working on will be ready to send this weekend. She also helped me brainstorm past a block I’ve had on a short story that needs to be sent this weekend (I got a brief extension on the deadline from the editor).

Today’s artwork is our inspiration artwork for the novella we’re working on. The novella’s about an Indian demigoddess who shapeshifts into a tiger, not a leopard, but otherwise the painting perfectly evokes what we’re trying to do.

It’s a new month, and I’ve been reviewing those writing projects and goals again. I made a list of novels and novellas for this year, with deadlines (both firm outside ones and target personal ones). I know I still need to be flexible—there’s one novel with a deadline of "???" because we haven’t heard back from the editor—but it’s good to see the list on paper, and get a sense of goals.

The beginning of this month looks very nice: a few little projects and fun things here and there, like helping Morgana finish painting her meditation room (finally!) and seeing Monty Python and the Holy Grail at the cheap theatre in town and working on a new sewing project (which is a secret). Then, towards the end of the month, Ken’s coming home and we’re going to five (possibly six) Styx shows! Whee bouncity bounce!

Immediately after that, I’m heading up to Portland, and thence out to the coast for another book-in-a-week retreat. Even more fun, Teresa will be joining me! We’ll finish up a novel and possibly the novella, or something like that. We’ll know better what we need to work on by the time we get there. Since we may not be able to work on our joint projects simultaneously (what one writes may affect what the next writes), I plan to work on some solo stuff, too. No idea what, yet. I have some ideas, but no concrete plans…

Plus there’ll be walks on the beach and great dinners and conversations with Kris and Dean and all the other writers, and a day or two on either end to spend time with my beloved.

<>-<>-<>

Speaking of my beloved, he’s coming home for the weekend! He arrives Saturday late afternoon, and will probably head out Monday. He misses the motorcycle, so he’s going to ride back up. I’m torn between wanting to run errands (like car shopping) and just curling up with him. Or going for a bike ride. I’ve been having some serious wanderlust recently.

Of course, before he arrives I have to write a short story, go food shopping, and meet with a friend to help him target markets for his artwork. And shower, and eat some food, and drink some tea…

Have a fabulous weekend, everybody!

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Currently Reading: The Rival: Book Three of the Fey, Kristine Kathryn Rusch; Losing My Virginity: An Autobiography, Richard Branson
Lately Listened To: Long Distance: The Best of Runrig
Recently Watched: Gormenghast, Monk

Silk or leather or a feather

Words Written: at least 500/day during the week on various projects
Writing Stats: “Heaven Has Eyes” made the first and second round of cuts at Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. (This is the third or fourth story of mine to do so, but I’ve yet to sell to them.)
Exercise: see below

Not the best of weekends. Friday night/Saturday morning, starting at about 2 a.m., Grimoire starting yarking. Only one small hairball, the rest just…well, to be polite, I’ll just say liquid. Never a lot at one time. Then, at 8:45 a.m., my phone rang. The tree guy, saying he wouldn’t be out today because it was raining. (The tree guy is coming out to remove four eucalyptus trees and one stump, and to seriously trim back our out-of-control lemon tree.) Said tree guy was supposed to have called Friday evening to confirm he was coming out on Saturday, which he hadn’t done… So I crawled out of bed, pulled myself together, called the vet, and hauled Grimoire in.

Long story short, he was seriously constipated. Poor thing. He spent the day at the vet being knocked out, tested, and X-rayed. He came home Saturday night, barely able to walk in a straight line. I had to take him back in today for a follow-up, and was sorry to report that he hadn’t pooped overnight. So he spent half a day at the vets, getting, um, cleared out. But today they also found he had a bladder infection. So now he’s on two medications… Even with the vet’s monthly care plan, this wasn’t cheap. But the most important thing is, he’ll be fine.

Suffice to say, I’ve been distracted and worried, and didn’t sleep well last night. (I slept on the foldout sofa in the media room because I knew Grimoire wouldn’t be able to make it up the stairs, much less onto the bed, in his post-anæsthesia drunken condition.) So this weekend has mostly been a bust where work has been concerned. I’ve been able to work only on semi-mindless projects, like house-straightening and bill-paying and e-mail catch-up.

Morgana did come over this evening, though, and we watched a biography of Marie Antoinette that we’ve been meaning to see. Since I know next to nothing about French history, especially post-1600 (it’s an SCA curse), I found it fascinating. Now I need to add the Marie Antoinette movie to my Netflix queue. That and The Affair of the Necklace, which I thought was on there but apparently I’d forgotten to add previously.

After that, we watched the Adam Ant videos I’ve been collecting for her (when one shows up on VH-1 Classics, I record it and then dump it to tape), which led to us looking info up online… It’s a slippery slope, I tell you. (Not a slippery slop, which is what I first typed. Ew.)

Oh, and I’ve also watched the first half of the BBC miniseries of Gormenghast. I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never read the books, although I own an omnibus edition. Anyway, weird stuff.

I’m still reading Kris’s Fey series, still not sure exactly where I left off the last time I was reading it and apparently got distracted by a shinier book. I’m also devouring Richard Branson’s autobiography, which makes me laugh out loud as I wait outside the courtroom to be called inside. The other jurors are patient with me.

Speaking of jury duty, they’ve changed our schedule, and we should be done by Tuesday afternoon. Both sides have rested their cases, and we’ll have closing arguments tomorrow morning, followed at some point (I’m assuming tomorrow) by jury instructions. It will be nice to finish up early (we were originally scheduled to start on Tuesday and end at the latest on Friday), because thanks to my sweet baby boy kitty, I’m now behind on most everything.

Give your kitties extra scritchies tonight!

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Currently Reading: The Rival: Book Three of the Fey, Kristine Kathryn Rusch; Losing My Virginity: An Autobiography, Richard Branson
Lately Listened To: Banba, Clannad
Recently Watched: Gormenghast

Too Stupid to Live?

I have my first essay up at LustBites—please stop by and check it out, and post a comment or two!

It's all good, really

Words Written: OOTFP ~1000 words; LustBites article, 600 words
Writing Stats: Sent out some stories
Exercise: yes ;-)

So on Thursday, I was mentally composing a journal entry to be titled “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” I’m not sure what the Ugly was to have been—probably something about my pantyhose falling down and why hadn’t I just worn stockings? The rest of it was going to be something like this:

The Bad: The conflict in the jury room is stressing me out.
The Good: I’ve written 500 words/day during our lunch break.

The Bad: I got a flat tire on the way home.
The Good: I was at the grocery store a mile from home, and Brian came and was my knight in shining sweatpants (which, incidentally, is a phrase I’d used in the novel that very day).

The Bad: I’d had a headache all afternoon.
The Good: I had a two-hour massage scheduled that evening.

The Bad: Our TV had died on Monday. (It had been occasionally acting weird, but we didn’t think it was going to bite the big one nearly that soon.)
The Good: Within minutes of my posting the need for a TV to borrow on the local SCA list, Kelvin said he had one to loan me.

But then I got home, and all that went by the wayside. I checked e-mail, and saw something from United, that started with a notice in red that although my reservation had been confirmed, something hadn’t gone through, and I needed to contact them within 24 hours… I thought it was regarding my flight to Seattle in May for a novel workshop. Then I saw Ken’s name on it. Okay, it must be his flight to Illinois.

Then I saw Thursday’s date.

Hunh?

Ken was coming home! Turns out he’d intended to surprise me (calling from Oxnard Airport, I assume) but he’d forgotten that his United account is set up to cc: me on any itineraries. Still, it was a surprise, and a wonderful one at that.

So a few hours later, after an awesome massage, Morgana kindly drove me to the airport (I shouldn’t drive at night, plus I had the donut spare on the car) to collect my beloved.

Friday, we went out on my lunch break, and he also got a new tire on the car. That night we took Morgana and Brian out to dinner to thank them for saving me twice. Then we did a bit of research on the Internet, hied ourselves to Circuit City, and bought a new TV. (A 32-inch flat screen, replacing a 36-inch curved screen that was a little too big for our media room anyway.)

Saturday morning I had a headache—ugh—so we were mellow around the house. In the afternoon we test rode a couple of motorcycles (BMW GT and RT) and confirmed that yes, the GT is what Ken wanted, so he put a deposit down on one. We were also going to test drive some cars (more on that in a later post), but it was getting late by that point, so we went to the Mongolian BBQ, then came home and did some computer work before watching a bit of TV and going to bed early…

He had to leave early this evening, but we got a little work done around the house and whatnot before that. Since then, I’ve been writing and working and generally getting some things done that fell by the wayside. I absolutely must finish working on chapters 4 and 5 of OOTFP and get them to Teresa tomorrow! And then I have three anthology stories to write before the end of the month, and Chris Y’s YA novel to critique….

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Currently Reading: The Changeling: Book Two of the Fey, Kristine Kathryn Rusch; Everyday Sacred: A Woman’s Journey Home, Sue Bender
Lately Listened To: random pop on iTunes
Recently Watched: CSI: NY

Brilliant

Brilliant post about writing here.

I think I need to read this every time I sit down to write.

Some people make gingerbread houses...

...and other people do this.

Uh...wow...

Break on through

Words Written:”I Need a Man,” 1637
Writing Stats: Followed up on a late payment. Received one rejection; story to be sent out again tomorrow. Received comp copy of Sex in Public, which includes the Sophie story “Make Me Come at the Ball Game.”
Exercise: yoga

Writing! After a lovely brunch with Gillian, Donna (visiting from Baltimore), et al, I went allll the way down the street to Lulu’s Beehive (okay, all of 1.3 miles!) to meet up with Christine for a writing session. We were both struggling a bit, but she made her goal of 5 pages (half of her goal for the week!) and I broke through and wrote over 1K on an as-yet untitled story (the deadline for which is tomorrow…) as well as a snippet on another.

Writing has been difficult to the point of non-existence for a while. I’m still not entirely sure why; all I know is that I’ve just had no enthusiasm for it. Not for a single project, which would have told me that there was a problem with that project, but for writing as a whole. So, it felt especially good to get back to it, to produce, to create.

I got home and had a snack, and soon thereafter Cat called, asking if she could spend the night. But of course! We hung out and chatted, and then she napped and I finished the story and talked to Ken. Then I woke Cat and we watched about half of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy before she started snoring softly. (She denies that last part.) So I sent her off to bed; we can watch the rest some other time. I still <3 Zaphod.

<>-<>-<>

I’ve been selected as a juror, which will make for an interesting rest of the month. It’s just three days a week for two weeks, and then three or four days the final week. We don’t have to be there until 10 a.m., which is horribly civilized. So although I’ll be busy, I’ll still have ample time to get everything else done that’s on my plate.

Of course, I should probably start by getting to bed at a reasonable hour tonight… Oops, too late. (Well, it’s reasonable for me, but the rest of the world might disagree.)

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Currently Reading: The Changeling: Book Two of the Fey, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Lately Listened To: RWA sessions
Recently Watched: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Those Venetian witches, you know

Words Written: 500 or so?
Writing Stats: I submitted five stories on Sunday, and received two rejections within a day. E-mail subs are both a joy and a curse. Four more stories were submitted today.
Exercise: yoga

Sale! I sold a fun little erotica piece, The Witch of Venice, to an anthology of stories inspired by drinks. Yes, The Witch of Venice is a drink. To get an idea for the story, I opened The Bartender’s Bible to a random page and picked the first drink recipe I found. So, obviously, it’s about pagans in Venice Beach. Hee.

<>-<>-<>

I had the most amazing and the most painful massage this evening. Two hours of my new massage therapist discovering that every part of my body is tight. My neck is tight. The base of my skull is tight. My pecs are tight. My right thumb is tight, for crying out loud. When I was face down and she looked at my back, she assumed that I’d been wrong and it was my right hip that was a problem, because of the way it sloped. Then she went to work on my left hip and discovered that no, the reason it didn’t slope was because there was a rock embedded there. And let’s not talk about my left hamstring, which hasn’t been the same since the sciatica twisted my entire left leg into knots.

I’ll be seeing her again soon. She was awesome.

<>-<>-<>

I went in for jury duty Wednesday, and I’m going back in tomorrow. I’m not on the jury, but they’re interviewing prospective jurors and didn’t finish on Wednesday. I’m currently in the audience, and it’ll be interesting to see how things transpire. The thing that most amazes me is how everyone in the damn Hall of Justice was funny. The lady giving us the orientation speech, the judge, both of the lawyers. Don’t they realize this is serious business?! Hee.

<>-<>-<>

The picture above is one I took in NY, at a rest area between Albany and Keene….

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Currently Reading: The Changeling: Book Two of the Fey, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Lately Listened To: some dreamy New Age CD my massage therapist had on.
Recently Watched: Star Trek: Enterprise (the Sci-Fi Channel is running it, and I’ve never seen the earlier seasons)

Fiction means "not real," right?

Hee! Fictional characters you should and shouldn't date.

Who would you date? Who would you run screaming from? Who's your partner most like?

(Everyone I think of would be bad for me. Hmm...!)

Tell me, tell me...

So, as mentioned earlier, I’m a member of Lust Bites, a group blog of Black Lace and Cheek authors. All the authors involved are invited to write little essays, about writing and sex and whatnot. I’ve already got a column slated for later this month, but that was the only topic that I could come up with. So, my pets, I need suggestions. What sorts of topics should I write about? They should be geared more towards readers than writers, but can be writing-related, too.

Post a comment! Tell me what to blather about! What haven’t I said that you want to hear?

Haunted somewhere out there

Words Written: damned if I know. I’ve been editing, mostly.
Writing Stats: Sale! Teresa and I have sold “Don’t Move” to H is for Hardcore. Which is not where we submitted it, but the editor thought it fit better in this anthology, and that’s just fine with us. Rejection from The Hub for “What Price Beauty”—it had been shortlisted, but “did not quite fit into the forthcoming lineup.” They “would be pleased to consider” further stories from me, though. Received proofs, and contract from Virgin UK via Teresa, for “Behind the Masque.”
Exercise: stretching

This entry was originally dated New Year’s Day, and I’ve been adding bits and pieces to it over the week. Let’s see if I can actually finish it and get it posted.

We got home at 2:40 a.m. New Year’s morning, and simply fell over. We’d been up for more than 20 hours… Less than 12 hours later and we were mostly unpacked, laundry was in, and mail had been sorted. Impressive, although it slowly went downhill from there, with us getting tireder and tireder. I did wrap the final presents that had arrived while we were gone, and then I did a mail run on Wednesday.

We had great intentions of going to Kingdom Twelfth Night today—we really, really wanted to see all those friends we’ve barely seen all year—but time just got away from us. Ken leaves tomorrow morning for Portland, and we had projects to finish before he left. He’s currently building a bookcase system for the sewing room, including shelves that will cross over above my drafting table. I am beside myself with delight! I can finally start getting that room organized, get out all my sewing and crafting bits, do artwork…!

I’ve been slogging through e-mail, trying to get caught up with that. Most of the personal stuff is answered; lists and “to do” items remain. I’ve been working as well, because all the late items from the end of the year showed up, and then all the 1/1/07 deadline items showed up within a few days of the deadline. Yeargh.

I’m slowly easing back into writing, too. Teresa finished a draft of Chapter 4 of Out of the Frying Pan and I’ve been going through that, tweaking a bit and making notes for upcoming stuff. She also wrote the first half of Chapter 5, so my next assignment is to write the second half. I also have a few anthology stories to write.

I don’t usually do a big year-end wrap up, but I did take note of my 2006 writing stats: 81 rejections, 24 sales.

Twenty-four sales… It takes my breath away. I didn’t track how many stories I wrote over the year, although I suppose it wouldn’t take long to figure it out from my daily writing spreadsheet. I think I’ll add the year to each story on the submission tracking spreadsheet.

I’ve been taking a step back, looking at my overall writing, trying to make some plans. I think the best plan right now is to not plan too far ahead. For example, Teresa and I want to get at least six chapters of OOTFP written before we start sending queries around. Our Black Lace editor is sitting on a partial we sent him, so he could ask for the rest at any time. And we have a novella proposal to write—Black Lace’s Wicked Words anthologies are moving to paranormal novella anthologies, and we have a fantastic idea for the first one. So, any one of those three projects could take off suddenly and need our immediate attention. (We’ll keep working on OOTFP after we mail queries, of course, but we’ll have to balance it with the novella—but, if Adam wants the BL novel, we’ll have to switch gears quickly.)

So, my first plan is “be flexible.” :-)

<>-<>-<>

So, right, Christmas. We took lots and lots of pictures with our new camera, and I’ll upload mine as soon as I figure out how… Which reminds me, I posted some other pictures before we left: various book signings and Calico Ghost Town.

My parents gave us a glass serving plate and a couple more little house figures—not David Winter cottages this time, but very similar. My middle sister gave us the special edition Narnia DVD, and my oldest sister bought us dinner. One of my nieces baked things for everyone.

And, ack! Previous presents I forgot to mention! Christine sent me an Amy Brown print—my first Amy Brown print! It’s called Autumn Daydreams. And Caterine sent us Pre-Raphaelite bookmarks! And Tani gave me Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf’s decaf English Breakfast tea! And Ken gave me the Llewellyn calendar!

The most important thing was spending time with the family. I hadn’t seen one of my nieces and two of my nephews in four years! We went into Lake Placid one day and tromped around, and most everybody went ice skating. Out of deference to my back, I chose to stand at the edge of the Olympic Oval and take pictures before my freezing fingers fell off. Ken skated for what may have been the first time in his life (he roller skated as a kid, though) and did a fantastic job.

As mentioned previously, I gave my youngest niece (11) a lap loom. We figured out how to warp it, and she completed her first weaving project the same day. Hahaha! Another convert! (I knew she’d like it. She’s a crafty thing.) Next I think I’ll teach her kumihimo. (I took mine with me; I’m making cords for edging Mongolian hats—we had a workshop on them at the beginning of January.)

<>-<>-<>

In other news, Ken decided that it was time for a change… He’s had long hair for a good 15 years, usually pulled back in a ponytail. He didn’t want short hair, but he wanted something more manageable on the bike, etc. So I took him to my Fabulous Gay Hairdresser. We looked at a few pictures, and then I sat down in the waiting room and let them go at it. When Ken walked out, all I could say was, “Oh my god! You look like Sawyer from Lost!” And indeed he does. Yum. Well, he was always yum, but this is a really nice style for him. (‘Course, he still wears it in a ponytail a lot…)

<>-<>-<>

I made Moroccan lamb kebabs (wonderfully simple recipe on the George Foreman grill!) and jasmine rice for supper tonight. Just mentioning it because it was really tasty…

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Currently Reading: The Sacrifice: Book One of the Fey, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Lately Listened To: An Ancient Muse, Loreena McKennitt
Recently Watched: Medium, Hex (Ken hasn’t seen it, so we’re working our way through the DVDs)

CSF review

A fantastic review of Cat Scratch Fever can be found here!

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What I did on my Christmas vacation

Words Written: erm…
Writing Stats: it’s the holidays—the NY publishing world has shut down
Exercise: hiking through the winter woods

What I Did on My Christmas Vacation

• scanned 551 family photos complete with detailed spreadsheet*
  
• taught my youngest niece how to weave (her gift from us was a lap loom)
  
• ate more sweets than I have in the past six months (thanks a lot, Mom)
  
• perfected the “one shot of tequila for the pot, one shot of tequila for me” art of cooking chili (and the chili was awesome, I might add)
  
• watched deer munching on corn in the yard of my parents’ Adirondack cabin
  
• took a bucketload of pictures with my new fantastic camera (uploads to come)
  
• remembered all the reasons why my family shouldn’t be in together in enclosed spaces for long lengths of time, which were overshadowed by all the wonderful reasons to spend Christmas together
  

*The project is far from done, but believe me, that took all the time we had, especially considering I kept having to tie people down to chairs so they wouldn’t wander off when I was trying to get them to identify people in pictures. One of my parents’ wedding photos lists a string of people that includes “two unidentified children who apparently crashed the party.”

<>-<>-<>

We’re in Washington-Dulles, waiting to board our flight. It’s overbooked, so they offered free hotel, food, and round-trip ticket to anyone willing to wait ‘til tomorrow. We decided to do it, but because Ken is a Premier Member, they counter-offered with first class on this flight. It’s a longish flight, and this would mean not only comfort, but free champagne for New Year’s Eve. So I said “Go for it,” and free champagne it will be. Happy New Year!

Aaaand now we’re somewhere over the Midwest. The flight attendants announced when it was midnight on the East Coast and when we over Chicago. Multiple celebrations! I’ve had a Bloody Mary, but no champagne yet. Maybe when we hit the West Coast.

We just watched most of Minority Report, but Ken’s computer crapped out right near the end, and because it turned itself off, we can’t eject the disk to watch on my computer. Pretty stupid movie overall—there are plot holes and logic problems I could drive a spaceship through—but I still wanted to see the final outcome.

Augh! They’re out of champagne! I shall have a glass of chardonnay (still free!) and pretend there are bubbles.

Hope you’re all ringing in the New Year in wonderful ways! (Tell me about them!)

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Currently Reading: The Sacrifice: Book One of the Fey, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Lately Listened To: the airplane engine
Recently Watched: Minority Report

Me, I want a hula hoop

Words Written: “Party Favor,” 1671; Out of the Frying Pan, ~300
Writing Stats: it’s the holidays—the NY publishing world has shut down
Exercise: briskly walking through airports yet again

Happy Christmas and Blessed Yule, everyone! We’re on a flight from Chicago to Albany, NY, where we will collect my sister Debi (currently on her way from Atlanta to Albany) and drive a few hours’ north into the mountains and join the rest of my family. We got less than 4 hours’ sleep last night, so we’re kinda punchy…

We made sure we had two Netflix DVDs in hand for the trip, and watched My Super Ex-Girlfriend on the first flight. It was better than I expected, largely due to the presence of Eddie Izzard.

We opened a present each for the Solstice, and I squeed with excitement when I discovered that Ken found me a copy of Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s Stained Black—an audiotape package of several of her horror stories! I’m a completist when it comes to Kris and Dean (except for their millions of media tie-in books—I pick them up when I find them used, but I know there are things out under pseudonyms I’m not privy to…), and I’ve had this on my list to find for years. He even found a sealed copy! But I’m not a collector in that sense, and I want to hear it…once I get my hands on a cassette player, since we don’t own one anymore. And I’ll have Kris sign it next time I’m up there. Beam. Meanwhile, I had Ken open Blackmore’s Night’s holiday CD, Winter Carols, so we could burn it and have it on my iPod to play while we’re in NY. (I found mini-speakers for the iPod, so we’ll have holiday music at the cabin.)

We then decided to open one gift a night until Xmas Eve, when we’d open the rest. The next night’s giftie was a pair of passport covers—and another discussion about where we want to go on our Big Trip this year. (Which reminds me: top priority in January is to get my passport renewed. I’ve had the paperwork and checks sitting here since mid-November; I just have to get my cute ass to the library.)

(I’ll ramble more about potential travel later. We have lots of places we want to go, including Britain, Australia and New Zealand, Hawaii, Machu Picchu, Venice…)

Ken opened another Neil Peart book, this one about riding his BMW bike between concerts. (Neil’s the drummer for Rush, considered one of the best drummers ever.) He’s really been into motorcycle travelogues over the past few years (Ken, I mean) so I’m on a quest to find more.

I don’t remember what I opened when after that, so now you’re just going to get it in the order I think of things.

Melusine sent her annual handmade ornament, this time purple and silver cross-stitch. So pretty! And she surprised me with a handmade purple-and-silver embroidered and beaded pouch/purse! I took pictures of both and will post them when I get home.

I got a pretty handmade bracelet from Tina, who sent it over with Ken when he saw her in October. I’m not sure if it’s officially a Yule gift, because he said he forgot to give it to me until now.

One of the rare items of Styx memorabilia out there is the Crystal Ball paperweight. (CB being their 1976 album.) I’ve longed for one, and Ken has spent years trying to find me one. I guess I never fully realized the efforts he’s been putting into it. He says he has people all over the country keeping their eyes out for one. Anyway, because he still hadn’t managed to get his hands on one, he broke down and made me one. That’s right. He made me a snowglobe with the CB album cover (front and back) inside. Is that not the coolest and sweetest thing ever? I love it more than if it was the actual paperweight.

He also gave me one of those little wooden kids’ toys; kind of a puppet on a base, and when you press up on the bottom of the base, the figure collapses. Well, this one is standing on his head. See, Lawrence has taken to doing a headstand at the end of each concert. Sheri took a great photo of this in Vegas and put it online with the caption “Cirque de Gowan”! and when I saw this toy, I looked at Ken and that’s what he said. At which point I collapsed in hysterical laughter. We’re going to paint a little towel under his head, and the phrase “Cirque de Gowan” on the side. I will show it to Lawrence, but he can’t have it. Mine!

He also got me Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things, which wasn’t even on my wish list yet! Ooh!

And we got new cameras! We were planning to anyway, and Xmas was a good excuse (plus it was a surprise for me to open). His camera was beat up from falling off the bike, and my camera (which we got because we were always fighting over who got to use the joint one, which then became his) was just too slow. Slow to take the picture, and really slow to “reboot” afterwards. These are little slim Casios, and they’re so fast! (Ken said he finally quit researching cameras, walked into a shop, and just told the saleswoman what features were important.) And he managed to get them in two different colors, so we won’t mix them up. Mine is a silver that shades towards lavender (how appropriate) and his shades more towards champagne. I played with mine in the airport a little—it can take black-and-white and sepia-toned pictures! Giggle madly.

Teresa gave me Moving Breath’s first CD, which was on my wish list because I pretty much wore out the cassette because I loved the album so much, and now we don’t have a cassette player. (Ken looked at the CD and said, “Right, that’s what you listened to when you got your tattoo.”) She also got me a book, and I’m blanking on what it’s called, but it looks very interesting.

Let’s see, I also got Ken another Neil Peart book (about riding his bicycle through Africa) and the newest Blackmore’s Night CD, The Village Lanterne.

I think we’ve started our descent, so I should wrap this up. Rainy and 36 degrees in Albany. I’ve got my fingers crossed for snow at the cabin… I hope you’re all have a lovely day. I don’t know when I’ll be able to post this; Ken and I will try to pop over to an Internet café in Lake Placid once or twice.

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Currently Reading: The Sacrifice: Book One of the Fey, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Lately Listened To: Christmas music! Whee!
Recently Watched: My Super Ex-Girlfriend